Dredd II?

Okay – so last year I went off to see Dredd 3D and loved it. Unlike the 1995 Judge Dredd this was a movie for the fans. The only criticism a true believer could really make was that the uniform was different, the lawmasters not quite the same and the lawgivers not the same as the comic version. On the other hand, South Africans would have recognised the vans used in the movie that the SA Police use (something like a covered ute). I rewatched the movie over the weekend and loved it again.

The problem being that it was a movie for the fans and the character (I think) being relatively unknown meant that the movie was a financial flop.

[Karl] Urban went on to say that despite an underwhelming box office take that had seemed to kill any chance of a sequel, the DVD sales have continued to impress – and Lionsgate has taken notice.

Urban’s comments are well short of the encouragement that fans no doubt hope for, but his vocal support of the claim that Lionsgate’s marketing is to blame for the film’s struggle (producer Adi Shankar admitted its title of Dredd 3D made it sound like a gimmick) is a good sign. Until now, fans of the film could only hope that Dredd‘s home video sales would send a message to the studio, and Urban implies they’ve heard it loud and clear.

So here is hoping that if a sequel is made it is the same style of gritty movie that will appeal to the true believers.

6 Responses to Dredd II?

I always felt the 1995 Dredd film nailed the look of the world and Mega City One, but the story was for children.

But you are right this new Dredd film was awesome. Seeing it in 3D at the cinemas, that part where the guy was thrown down the central atrium in slo-mo gave me a rollercoaster of inertia in the stomach.

It had some rave reviews from 3d blu-Ray and it is the best 3d experience on my 3d home cinema, Avatar is superior in picture but the Dredd sound is astounding. It is my go to demo for visitors to show off. Sadly there are too few of this quality. I think it has a following that is building and will do exceptionally well, terminator 2 and the godfather 2 where in many ways superior to the first of their franchise and Dredd should be the same.

Terminator 1 was a pretty standard Monster Chases Girl with scifi trappings. Terminator 2 turned MCG on its head; far from screaming and terrified, the girl was built and packing heat. Fan bloody tastic, proper apocalyptic feel that none of the subsequent movies captured.

I liked Dredd 3D and I’m no true believer. I got the impression Urban had taken note of the character’s Hard Cop movie lineage, in particular Dirty Harry. And it was a good urban dystopia flick, the more so because there weren’t a bunch of misunderstood angelic rebels versus a transparently fuck-awful bunch of tyrants.

Another thing I liked was that it gave you the feeling that there were real people living real lives in the fictional world (I never got that from the comics). A lot of scifi and action flicks end up feeling sterile.

Shame they couldn’t use the look of the first movie with a better plot. And where was Walter the Wobot, with the built-in cute lisp? couldn’t they have had that at the start, with Walter helping the judge to get ready for a typical day at work?

Another one here that thought that the 1995 movie actually captured the visual look from the comics better. It also included more of the Dredd lore, like the Cursed Earth, ABC Warriors etc… etc… Shame that it was just used as a Stallone vehicle.

Urban was good in the remake, but if there’s a Dredd 2, I hope it has a broader scope and includes more of Mega City 1 rather than just being a sci-fi remake of the Raid.

Hear. Hear.
I have waited 35 years for this movie. I bought my first 2000AD in 1977 (No. 1 in fact, since lost). I cried after the 1995 film, it was a piece of crap, but this was everything that a Dredd movie should be. It had to be simple, direct, enclosed and to the point. Lay down what the essence of Dredd is, and the level of viscera we know from the comics.
The next movie should step further and introduce other elements. Maybe the Cursed Earth. Maybe a block war. Definitely more of Mega City 1.
Leave the wider canon for the third movie. Bring in the dark Judges and Necropolis? Bring in Brit-Cit, Mega-City 2, the Sydney-Melbourne conapt?
Stallone just had too much stuff in it, which lost most viewers. The fact that it was also a Stallone vehicle and he took the helmet off shattered the whole Dredd illusion.
I like one of the other writers saw this at the cinema then at home on my 3D TV. Left my wife a little speechless, but that was the violence. But the quality and effect was amazing.

It is funny to note that the 1995 movie came after RoboCop which was virtually the same idea. Dredd 3D comes before a RObocop reboot.

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